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One part of the Ukraine/Giuliani story I’ve been fascinated about and which I think will end up being quite relevant is the way the players appear to have used notional attorney-client privilege to protect the secrecy of their operation. It’s not just lawyer-client privilege. There are also source-reporter relationships, monetary and business relationships. So for instance, Rudy Giuliani is allegedly the lawyer for Parnas and Fruman. They are also in business together. Parnas and Fruman are also working as investigators for Giuliani in his representation of President Trump and thus they claim that their work for Giuliani is covered by the President’s attorney-client privilege. The two men are also represented by John Dowd, who until recently represented the President. To be clear, I suspect that many of these relationships are corrupt and fraudulent and wouldn’t survive judicial scrutiny. But they’re still alleged.
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